


A Little Light in the Dark

by FeatherQuilt88



Series: In Which Mr. Scott Has a Bairn [1]
Category: Star Trek: The Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Adopted Children, Cute, Cute Kids, Family, Gen, Outer Space, Unicorns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-25 10:01:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30087393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeatherQuilt88/pseuds/FeatherQuilt88
Summary: After a landing-party trip, the power goes out in the shuttlecraft. Scotty's adoptive daughter ends up helping in an innocent and unexpected way.
Relationships: Montgomery "Scotty" Scott & Original Child Character(s), Pavel Chekov & Hikaru Sulu, Pavel Chekov & Original Child Character(s)
Series: In Which Mr. Scott Has a Bairn [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2213778
Kudos: 1





	A Little Light in the Dark

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this one back in 2015.
> 
> For those new to this Star Trek ficlet series of mine, Scotty has adopted my fancharacter, a little girl named Orin (a Dinarian--my fan-species that look like smallish humans and have a fairy-like culture, basically "space munchkins"). Orin calls him "Unca Scotty," and is close to Chekov and sometimes calls him "Unca" as well.

It had been a snowy evening on Lumar. Scotty, Orin, Chekov, and Sulu had barely gotten back to the shuttlecraft in time, before the freezing temperatures set in and all the locals retreated to their underground domes for the night. They had packed up the supplies the _Enterprise_ had been ordered to carry to the next solar system, along with one other little souvenir from the small, twinkling planet--a unicorn keychain. Scotty didn't know what his adoptive Dinarian daughter would need a keychain for at her age--she had no key-chips to keep up with--but she loved unicorns, after all, so he'd chuckled and bought the little trinket for her at a shop.

It was fun, traveling the universe, however much duty went along with it as members of Starfleet. Scotty had found himself (with permission) going on away missions more often now that he had his new "bairnie" to keep up with, wanting her to be able to see as much of the galaxy as possible. And he was remembering how much he truly enjoyed it too. The _little_ things, not just the grand missions of science and peacekeeping. Simple moments like stopping in at this local Lumarian's trinket shop--goodness, how the twinkling man had burbled with excitement when a far-away Terran had come jangling at the door of his ramshackle business! The Lumarians had fine, shimmery fur, almost like fiber-optic filaments all over their bodies, and they were thin and almost mantis-shaped, though mammalian. And they were very timid yet very kind and friendly folk. Orin had squealed with delight and picked out the unicorn charm almost immediately, running up to the smiling merchant and barely reaching the top of his counter to shove the new toy on it. Scotty had chuckled, ruffled her hair, and paid for it with Federation credits. ...Unicorns were actually a real species on Lumar, but they were shy and reclusive beasts, and rarely found when searched for. Poor little Orin had been disappointed to not see one during their short visit, but at least she had now found her own little play unicorn to take home with her.

The tiny Dinarian now wore the plastic charm clipped to one of the belt loops of her child-sized jumpsuit. She leaned over into her chubby guardian's lap as she became drowsy. Even with Sulu at the helm, the shuttlecraft _Copernicus_ was taking a rather slow course back to the _Enterprise_. Scotty smiled patiently and stroked Orin's forehead.

Just then, the lights flickered. Sulu jerked his head upward in alarm, checking the upper dashboard.

"Vhat's going on?!" Chekov hissed in alarm. The lights made crackling noises and sputtered out. Scotty stood up from the back seatrow where he had been resting with Orin, alarmed, though taking care to lift the little girl up and not bump her chin as he jolted himself upright.

"Unca Scotty, 'm scared!" Orin whimpered, clinging to her guardian's belly as he quietly shushed her. A comet suddenly flashed by on the front viewscreen window.

"A falling star!" Chekov gasped, his brown eyes, though alarmed, filling with childlike wonder. In any other circumstance, Scotty may have smiled to see his young friend so amazed. He was, too, in a way--he'd never seen one up so close--but as the comet continued on its way through space, now drifting away from them, he realized he still had a job to do.

"The system still seems intact," Sulu sighed with relief, touching buttons to keep the shuttlecraft flying on course. "All thrusters and interior environment power still functional. But we're flying blind--all the lights got shorted out by that comet's electrical field when it passed too near to us." The dark-haired helmsman squinted as he struggled to keep his eyes on the viewscreen, without any electric lights to aid him. The stars were visible outside, but only just--the interior of the shuttlecraft had gone pitch-black, just like the darkness of space outside.

"Wait a tic there, Laddies," Scotty groped around under the seats, locating an emergency toolbox. It wasn't much compared to the gadgetry he had back in the Enterprise itself, but it would hopefully be enough to get the job done. He felt inside, and his hands recognized some wire-cutters, seam-joiners, and laser-pens--but the old engineer groaned aloud as he picked up what appeared to be a flashlight, and clicked its side-button on and off. "Of all things!" Scotty growled in his burr. "The batteries’ve gone dead! Ah can fix the short in the lights in a jiffy, but Ah need a wee bit o' light, jest a wee candle-glimmer at least, tae see what me hands're doin'!"

Orin had been clinging to Scotty's leg the whole time, as she was barely able to see her guardian's large form in the blackness right in front of her. The _Copernicus_ interior was small, barely the size of a typical bedroom or cabin, really, so none of its inhabitants could get very far from each other--but still, the little girl's instinct was to huddle close to her source of security, and even the two friends up front had shifted a bit closer together, Chekov holding onto Sulu's wrist for stability in the oppressive darkness. Suddenly, it was Orin who peeped up an unexpected note of encouragement.

"My unicorn c'n save us!" she beamed, her voice soft but cheerily hopeful. Scotty at first thought his "bairn" was making up a fantasy in her innocence, pretending her new toy was somehow alive and could help them with its magic. But then Orin unhooked the toy from her belt and gave it a squeeze. It glowed.

Scotty's face spread into a broad smile beneath his mustache. "Och, well DONE, me bairnie!" he praised her, patting her little cheek fervently, and offering a short but sincere prayer of thankfulness in his head. Apparently his and Orin's guardian angels had very well directed the little bairn's attention to that toy earlier, so that it could play an important role now. Scotty hadn't even noticed before that the little rubber unicorn was also a mini-flashlight.

Chekov gave a small laugh of relief and hope too, and reached over to hug Mr. Scott's adoptive child. Orin giggled at her "Unca Chekky's" touch, hoisted halfway up to ceiling, and she herself hoisted her new toy high in the air, near the upper panel holding most of the electric light circuits. Scotty grinned in the tiny light visible and unhooked the panel cover, soon getting to work. Sulu continued to hold the _Copernicus_ on course, ducking his head but smiling in appreciation of the old engineer as Scotty's heavy frame bumped over his shoulder. Working together, the four friends had the most necessary lights flickering back on fairly soon, and the shuttlecraft on its now much quicker and safer journey back to home, the _Enterprise-A._

...The four friends? Well, of course, in Orin's wee mind, there was a fifth too. Her new little toy friend had helped to save the day. Wait 'til Captain Kirk heard that the _Copernicus_ got repaired under unicorn-power!


End file.
